YOUNG dancers from the Five Valleys were caught up in the mass evacuation of Birmingham city centre on Saturday night after terror threats.

Originally in the city for a dance show, the three frightened girls and their troupe were swept up in a mass exodus as almost 30,000 people were evacuated.

Emma James, 17, who is awaiting her A Level results in August, was one of the dancers who went to the Birmingham Hippodrome to perform in a national youth dance weekend.

"We were all told to get into our groups and to leave the building," she said. "At that stage we thought it was just a drill. It wasn't until we got outside and saw lots of police and hundreds of people walking away from the building that we realised.

"It did feel quite scary. We gathered outside not really knowing what was happening or what to do. But our leaders were really great."

She said the group, which contained more than 20 young dancers from across the county, spent around an hour walking the three miles to their accommodation following the incident on Saturday night.

"There were so many people and everybody was scared," added Emma.

"You see this sort of thing in the news and you just don't imagine what it is like."

Together with pal Louise Kilminster, 16, and Maidenhill pupil Maryia Zaretskaya, she was back safely after the event, which continued on Sunday more or less as planned.

Bomb disposal experts carried out controlled explosions in the city centre on Sunday after what West Midlands chief constable Paul Scott Lee described as a 'serious threat'.

The youngsters from the Gloucestershire Youth Dance Company were selected from 71 other companies across the UK to compete in the National Youth Dance England event - the first of its kind.